Alien: Covenant CinemaCon Footage Reveals Prometheus Connection

The Alien franchise has been going strong since 1979. Four movies followed the ordeal of Ellen Ripley as she fought numerous xenomorphs, moved forward in time, lost virtually everyone she cared about, and was even cloned after her death. Following that were two spinoff films -- Alien vs. Predator and its sequel -- where both franchises combined and brought the fight to Earth. In 2012 the battle returned to outer space with the prequel film Prometheus.

Prometheus had a number of homages to the original movie, including having a female protagonist and an untrustworthy android with secret orders that endangered everyone. At the end of the film, nearly everyone was dead. The only survivors were Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and the still-working decapitated head of David the android (Michael Fassbender). Instead of returning home, they set off to find the creatures who attacked them, the Engineers, so that Shaw could get some answers as to what happened. Their return has been promised in the upcoming sequel to Prometheus -- Alien: Covenant -- but so far there has been no word on how they will fit into the new story.

Well, that question has now been answered, at least partially. According to The Wrap, at 20th Century Fox’s CinemaCon presentation, new footage of Covenant was shown, and it at least shows what happened to David.

The new footage shows the ship that David and Elizabeth were last seen traveling in. Huge numbers of Engineers have gathered to greet the ship. David emerges, somehow with an entirely new body, and speaks in a voiceover:

"The gods have rejected mankind as cruel, weak and full of greed. They are a dying species, grasping for resurrection. So they are leaving the earth forever. But their power is an illusion. They don’t deserve to start again, and I’m not going to let them."

As he speaks, a series of black bombs release a thick black liquid, which melts the Engineers. While it is not confirmed, this seems like it might be the event which leads to the creation of the xenomorphs.

Absent from the scene is Shaw. She and David were not exactly on the same side during Prometheus, so her absence brings up questions. Whether or not she helped David release the bombs, or tried to fight him and lost are not known at this time. She is promised to return, so sooner or later we will find out what happened.

In Alien: Covenant, Fassbender is also playing another android -- Walter -- who is traveling with a large crew of couples looking for a world to populate. Odds seem good that they will find themselves on the same planet as David, and will have to face to repercussions for what he did in this scene.